Politics and Culture

May 26, 2017

Islamophobia watch

The Manchester bomber was in an Arabic-speaking “clique” at school which accused a teacher of Islamophobia for criticising a suicide bomber in class, The Times has learnt.

Salman Abedi, 22, who grew up on council estates in south Manchester, was viewed in his school days as an angry young man who did not quite fit in.

During his time at Burnage Academy for Boys between 2009 and 2011, Abedi is believed to have been among a group of boys who took issue with a teacher who had “asked what they thought of someone who would strap on a bomb and blow people up,” a source said. “A group went to complain to their RE teacher saying it was Islamophobic.”